Ahead of the Battle of Ideas 2015, film historian Kunle Olulode explores why Birth of a Nation is no ordinary film
Kunle Olulode: No place for the real Hollywood story
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CATEGORY: United States
Parents petition to remove Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden from school reading lists
Parents and students at a high school in New Jersey have launched a petition to have books, including the play Death and the Maiden by Chilean playwright
Muira McCammon: GiTMO’s linguistic isolation
Index on Censorship youth advisory board member Muira McCammon discusses linguistic isolation at Guantanamo Bay
Remembering E.L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, a supporter of Index on Censorship, passed away on 21 July 2015 at 84.
Padraig Reidy: Just another old man yelling at a cloud?
Every so often (roughly generationally) there are upheavals in mores and language. We’re on that cusp now.
Mass surveillance: Journalists confront the moment of hesitation
Following Edward Snowden’s revelations outlining the capabilities of intelligence agencies to monitor private online communications journalists are confronting a moment of hesitation.
Jodie Ginsberg: “I believe in free expression, but…”
The decision by six authors to withdraw from a PEN American Center gala in which Charlie Hebdo will be honoured with an award once again emphasises the dangerous notion that some forms of free expression are more worthy than others of defending
Honor Diaries: Who is afraid of human rights?
The organisers of a women’s conference at the University of South Dakota react to attempts to ban a screening of Honor Diaries
#IndexAwards2015: Digital activism nominee Nico Sell
Nico Sell is a US-based entrepreneur and activist for online privacy and secure digital communication.
#MagnaCarta800: Debating the merits of a First Amendment for the UK
On the day when the four surviving copies of the original 1215 Magna Carta were briefly brought together for the first time, Index on Censorship held a debate to celebrate the launch of the winter issue of the magazine.
Smears about the media made by US President Donald Trump have obscured a wider problem with press freedom in the United States: namely widespread and low-level animosity that feeds into the everyday working lives of the nation’s journalists, bloggers and media professionals. This study examines documented reports from across the country in the six months leading up to the presidential inauguration and the months after. It clearly shows that threats to US press freedom go well beyond the Oval Office.
“Animosity toward the press comes in many forms. Journalists are targeted in several ways: from social media trolling to harassment by law enforcement to over-the-top public criticism by those in the highest office. The negative atmosphere for journalists is damaging for the public and their right to information,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO at Index on Censorship, which documented the cases using an approach undertaken by the organization to monitor press freedom in Europe over the past three years. Learn more.